Creating the Coalopolis: Perceptions of Newcastle, 1770 to 1935

Newcastle, New South Wales, has been marginalised because of its industrial image in a country which sees itself as having only two culturally significant spaces, the City and the Bush. The settlement at the mouth of Hunter's River was established as a secondary penal colony for reoffending convicts and named Newcastle because of the coal in the area. Its function, the coal and the location north of Sydney led to a perception of Newcastle as a place for the unwanted, a place of heavy manual labour and a cognate of the industrial north-east of England. None of these elements fit with the preferred image of Australia. Newcastle came to play a very useful role for Sydney in particular as a place which could bear the imagery of smoky industrialism, while the rest of Australia dutifully served its role of producing raw materials for the imperial economy. People in Newcastle were aware of the role of perceptions and worked actively to influence the way their city was seen by visitors and non-visitors. After early efforts to promote Newcastle as a healthy and beautiful Brighton, many Novocastrians capitulated to the logic of capitalising on the primary asset of the area. Not satisfied with being a mere coaling port, the Newcastle boosters worked to make the city a Coalopolis, a commercial centre active on the world stage. Their success in achieving this goal was confirmed when, in 1912, B.H.P. chose Newcastle as the best place in Australia to establish their steel works. Once committed to Newcastle, B.H.P. began a long term campaign to shift the dominant perception from Coalopolis to Steel City. As it was only a revision of the Coalopolis image and did not necessitate a radical reorganising of spatial relationships, this change was actively supported by most Novocastrians, and, indeed, most Australians. As a coal port, a Coalopolis and a Steel City, Newcastle has had a marginal but essential role in Australian culture. By playing the perceptual role of the primary centre of industry, Newcastle has supported the myth that other places in Australia are either the City or the Bush.